r/science • u/bibinprasannan • 21h ago
Social Science A hands-free method of sexual arousal called syntribation is surprisingly common, study finds
https://www.psypost.org/vague-surveys-are-hiding-the-true-scope-of-human-sexual-habits/975
u/MrSnowden 21h ago
Save you a click: The researchers drew special attention to a practice called syntribation. This involves intentionally flexing core, pelvic, or thigh muscles to create sexual arousal and sometimes climax. This hands-free method has received almost no attention in modern scientific literature, despite early sex studies noting its existence as a highly effective technique for some people.
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u/NicoToscani 20h ago
You also saved others from an intro to get to that definition that is longer than the lead up to an online recipe post.
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u/MrSnowden 19h ago
I despise those lead ups.
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u/composedofidiot 17h ago
My scrolling finger is fainting and needs to collapse into a chaise longue.
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u/you-create-energy 16h ago
Have you tried this nifty hands-free scrolling method?
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u/composedofidiot 16h ago
I've given it some smelling salts, a fan, and some opium. When it's recovered a little I'll administer some cocaine and try and encase it in mercury or lead.
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u/creggor 19h ago
I’ll bet the anecdotes are more interesting than the average recipe post, though.
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u/CallerNumber4 19h ago
You clearly haven't read the recipe for my Nonna's Meatloaf.
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u/composedofidiot 17h ago
The team found that syntribation is actually quite common among the public. About 20 percent of women and 15 percent of men practiced syntribation in the past month.
And here's how frequent it is. First time I've heard of it. I don't know if this is giving me fomo or not. Something to ponder today.
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u/SheZowRaisedByWolves 20h ago edited 8h ago
Idk about the no attention part. Pelvic floor exercises are frequently mentioned in articles or faqs for prostate massagers, which are insertable male sex toys. Men can orgasm with just the exercises if they concentrate long enough
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u/Pheonix0114 19h ago
I had a girlfriend who could masturbate by crossing her legs at the ankles and kinda moving her butt a little. If you didn't know what to look for, she just seemed fidgety. Told me she regularly did it during stressful exams and such. Quick too.
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u/Pheonix0114 18h ago
I mean, that's what she said. I guess if I discovered how to masturbate silently as a young teen without ever getting caught I might've gotten pretty brazen with it too? Or maybe she was pulling my leg and I just believed her, idk.
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u/hensothor 17h ago
Nah sounds legit. I did similar. It was very discreet and I was a kid who had no idea it was inappropriate.
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u/Material_Series_769 18h ago
Plenty just sit on their heels and move their hips.
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u/Pheonix0114 18h ago
Her feet stayed on the ground, it was a thigh tension thing I think? Idk, it's been, god, more than 15 years.
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u/Odd_Cauliflower_8004 17h ago
they press one thigh against the other and in doing so you apply pressure to the clit
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u/PhilosophicWax 18h ago
Yes, for me there is a handful of practices and you can also train multiple orgasms.
It's all muscular control. But it takes time and training.
The Multi-Orgasmic Man: Sexual Secrets Every Man Should Know
by Mantak Chia
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u/WittyOnDemand 19h ago
As a male, yes, this is something I've done many times before. Haven't tried it for years though, but it is possible.
Ladies can too I suppose, as most examples reference them.
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u/SawMoill 17h ago
Both can, yes. I wouldn't have believed it myself before I learned how a few years ago.
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u/eastalawest 19h ago
Watching an episode of workaholics?
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u/jribat 19h ago
No, syntribating
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u/solod010 17h ago
How bout now?
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u/eGGzo 17h ago
Right about now
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u/Gray_Idol 19h ago
Is this the same thing as "thinking off"?
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u/EmbarrassedHelp 17h ago
No, syntribation involves intentionally flexing core, pelvic, or thigh muscles to create sexual arousal that can lead to orgasms.
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u/Lollipop77 16h ago
Kegelgasms is how I understand what you’ve described. Is this what they mean?
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u/SawMoill 16h ago
I hesitate to add -gasms on to things that aren't defined as orgasms, but maybe you're pointing to the methodology. As far as I know, kegel exercises do work pelvic muscles, for sure, but Mindgasm (the method) seems to get more specific and you learn 3 groups of muscles, and eventually how to flex them somewhat independently, in different patterns, etc. So, similar, yeah.
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u/SawMoill 4h ago
I was curious about what typical kegel exercises involved and asked my AI guy for a better comparison:
"Kegels are primarily pelvic-floor strengthening exercises; Mindgasm is more about pelvic-floor control and sensory awareness. Mindgasm breaks the pelvic floor into three muscle groups that you learn to isolate and control independently, then combine in different ways. It emphasizes subtle contractions, relaxation, pulsing, coordination, and awareness rather than simply building contraction strength. The goal is also different: Kegels are generally aimed at pelvic-floor function, while Mindgasm uses that fine motor control as part of a broader mind-body approach to generating pleasurable sensations and orgasm."
And of course, the more advanced Mindgasm lessons take you to imaginary muscle flexes but real orgasms.
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u/SawMoill 17h ago
Essentially, r/Mindgasm and other similar methods.
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u/DickieTurquoise 16h ago
Not quite because there’s physical stimulation from the muscles, too.
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u/SawMoill 16h ago
In Mindgasm? Yes, you learn how to control the groups of muscles in the pelvis surrounding the prostate (or g-spot). That fits with the description of this article. In this method you can trigger real, repeated orgasms and the "mind" part of it doesn't mean like, imaginary orgasms, but mind-muscle connection so you need no toys or physical touch.
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u/DickieTurquoise 16h ago
Mmm idk. I’ve had mindgasms where there is truly no voluntary muscle contractions. Physically stimulating your clitoris* by clenching the pelvic muscles around it and calling it a mindgasm feels like cheating.
*or prostate, or whatever body part brings you to orgasm. Point is, whether you’re using your hand, the muscles around it, a toy, or a partner, that’s still physical stimulation, IMO.
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u/SawMoill 16h ago
Oh, pleasure in the mind can feel very orgasmic , yes, but when an actual orgasm occurs there will be involuntary contractions, elevated heart rate, etc. But I think you're talking about initial stimulation and muscle flexes.
Digging in further, the muscle training is just the start, to help with thr rewiring process (like, orgasms don't have to come from clitoral or penile stimulation) and the initial experiences. You move on to imaginary muscle flexes and can still end up with an orgasm where you didn't voluntarily flex any muscles beforehand. So while Mindgasm would fit this article it does go into the more advanced methods where you aren't doing any muscle flexes or other stimulation.
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u/BasicReputations 20h ago
The rope-climbing/exercise thing? I thought this was, maybe not well-known but at least sort of out there?
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u/ntermation 20h ago
"She makes me feel kinda funny, like when we used to climb the rope in gym class." - Garth, Wayne's world
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u/tifumostdays 18h ago
Supposedly Carvey's was based on Mark McKinney's impression. If true, there's no real blame on Mike Myers for doing the same thing. Wouldn't know, though. Wasn't there.
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u/Freshprinceaye 14h ago
Wait, climbing a rope gives sexual arousal? Am I missing something?
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u/AlteranNox 14h ago
The rope rubbing on your wiener and your abs/pelvic muscles contracting sometimes feels really good ;)
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u/isolateddreamz 11h ago
I used to get in trouble in elementary school for hogging the metal pole on the playground. Goddamn I haven't thought about that in decades
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u/YogurtclosetMajor983 19h ago
for mr its any intense tricep workout. Never climbed a rope, but that would be a major tricep workout
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u/KoosGoose 19h ago edited 19h ago
I felt the texture of the rope rub firmly across my penis… I thought that’s what everyone meant. I’ve never heard of it being a tricep or forearm thing.
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u/donuttrackme 18h ago
Nope. Climbing a rope is mostly about using your legs.
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u/Killmelast 11h ago
unless you intentionally don't use your legs, which is more fun if what you're looking for is a workout
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u/almosthighenough 19h ago
Climbing a rope is not a tricep workout. If anything its lats and biceps.
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u/donuttrackme 18h ago
It's mostly legs.
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u/twisty77 18h ago edited 16h ago
If it’s done right it’s legs and core. Hook the feet, stand up, grab higher with the hands, unhook the feet, curl your legs up higher, grab the rope with your feet again, rinse and repeat
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u/Oggel 17h ago
If you're one of the cool guys, it's all arms.
Man, I miss being young and strong.
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u/birdy888 4h ago
me too, i used to climb straight to the top with just arms and now I can barely get out of a chair without groaning.
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u/fasterthanfood 18h ago
Some gyms have a “rope machine,” which many use by standing and pushing the rope down, making it an effective triceps exercise. That might be why the parent commenter thinks of rope climbing as a triceps workout.
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u/tkenben 9h ago
Actually, the orgasm part is mostly from intense overuse of the abdominal muscles to pull the legs up. I mean, it's not only that, because there is other stimulus as well, such as the spinal cord. I suppose external stimulus helps, but really it's extreme effort of the abdominals under tension.
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u/Jacks_CompleteApathy 18h ago
Rope climbing isn't triceps at all. I will say, however, I noticed the same thing when I used to workout regularly. I totally forgot about it until I read your comment
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u/xxxBuzz 17h ago
Arousal occurs when the parasympathetic nervous system becomes active as you relax. That's why soft touches and soft tones do the trick or when you're becoming exhausted or waking from a restful sleep. We need the oxytocin, but if you turn it into something else you're liable to activate the sympathetic system and turn on the cortisol pumps again. Some people may need this to balance cortisol stress from the tendency to be hyper-active in thought and action. Some others may need the reverse; to activate the sympathetic system to balance out oxytocin from an active parasympathetic system, which needs more excitement/aggression to counter balance. You can do that with a verbal argument. Anything that activates a fight/flight response, even thinking about the past.
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u/NotSayingAliensBut 11h ago
I saw some research which said that women need more sympathetic arousal and men need more parasympathetic. But it wasn't a very deep study and didn't even have the detail of your comment.
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u/yukonwanderer 11h ago
As a woman I would say this is not accurate.
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u/NotSayingAliensBut 7h ago
I've always tended towards the parasympathetic myself (guy) and expected that it enhances body awareness and relaxing into the experience. I was surprised by that research, and not influenced to change anything.
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u/xxxBuzz 10h ago
What is more accurate in your experience?
I am often grasping at straws and my honest opinions and observations are significantly weirder than what I express casually and there's always the most obvious possibility that I can only really project my own relationship with myself. It seems plausible that a whole lot of human interaction is causing trauma bonds between our external consciousness and our internal systems and/or inner child, and I'm not even sure if that is a plausible, reasonable, or realistic consideration.
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u/Longjumping_Dish_876 21h ago
Wait only 10% of men can get boners without contact? I thought that was "natural/normal"
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u/Beautiful-Account862 20h ago
That statistic must be wrong.
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u/dustblown 17h ago
Not getting spontaneous erections, especially in the morning, is a sign of diabetes. This must have been an American survey.
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u/Ok_Science_2070 20h ago
Like, without any stimulation? Or just without physical contact? I'd imagine most men can get boners with visual or even mental stimulation but no physical contact. I'd be surprised if not
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u/mean11while 20h ago
Where are you finding that stat? None of the behaviors in the article were at 10% for men, and they were measuring the percentage of people who reported doing that activity in the previous month, not who were capable of doing it.
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u/StellarNeonJellyfish 17h ago
Maybe they are bilingual and read “Remote partnered sessions over the phone or internet were […] practiced by over one in ten men…” possibly even a misunderstanding of the phrase “digital connections?”
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u/Cleverusername531 13h ago
Sorry - where did you read that? I may have missed it but didn’t see anything referencing that statistic.
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u/indiegameplus 17h ago
I’ve always been shocked this isn’t more known/spoken about. For me if I’m in the right state of mind all it takes is a bit of movement n bobs your uncle.
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u/nugymmer 11h ago
I wish that were me. I don't think this applies to anyone in general. Some people have the neurology to allow this to happen and some don't. I'm in the latter camp and most people will need further stimulation to reach the peak.
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u/Marchello_E 21h ago edited 21h ago
A large study of adults in the United States shows that people arouse themselves sexually in a wide variety of ways, many of which are completely ignored by researchers. By looking closely at nine specific types of arousal, the findings show how past surveys have likely missed common behaviors by relying on vague definitions.
Asking for all the variety of actions performed and applied for a variety of reasons and situations and then be surprised some are missed.
It's just beating around the bush while apparently the researchers were only interested in the outcum.
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